A freeze on federal loans and grants is creating turmoil for some rural U.S. business owners who fear they won’t get reimbursed for new, cleaner irrigation equipment or solar panels they purchased with the promise of a rebate.
In Cherryville, Maine, Hugh Lassen and his wife and two teenagers grow organic, wild blueberries on their Intervale Farm. Last year they purchased solar panels to run their home, a blueberry sorter and 14 freezers. They did it thinking they’d get an $8,000 grant through the Rural Energy for America Program.
“It’s never the right time to spend $25,700,” Lassen said. “It’s a huge amount of money for us because we’re pretty small.”
President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on giving out these funds, but federal judges have said departments can disburse them. Yet many departments have not resumed writing checks, so questions remain for some business owners who spent years making plans for improvements they could afford only with grants.
“We’ll just have to suck it up if somehow the funding doesn’t come through,” Lassen said.
The Rural Energy for America Program, offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is one of the many initiatives rocked by the funding freeze. It provides grants to small businesses in rural areas so they can generate clean energy or improve their energy efficiency. Besides solar, it has helped fund wind turbines, electric irrigation pumps to replace diesel ones, and corn ethanol.
Once a business gets approved for the program, it purchases the technology and operates it for at least 30 days. Then a USDA agent comes out personally for verification, and barring any problem, the check gets issued.
Some people have spent months on their applications.
Deanna and Christopher Boettcher run Mar Vista Farm and Cottages in Gualala, Calif., and began their REAP application in 2023. They put in time going over plans with contractors and filling out paperwork for 48 solar panels to cover about 80 percent of their electricity needs.
The day they received approval to buy the panels, the funding freeze was announced.
“I am speechless,” Deanna Boettcher said. “Absolutely this will change my plans. There is no way we can build the solar system without the funds. … So many obstacles and hurdles they put in the way, and to finally get there and then this.”
Their solar system cost $82,600. The Rural Energy for America Program is supposed to cover half. “We’re not going to even think about starting it unless we know that it’s not frozen,” Deanna Boettcher said.
Lassen stressed that lower energy costs make farm products cheaper to make, allowing them to be priced lower. Solar and wind are appealing to remote communities because they can be cheaper than traditional energy sources, such as diesel generators and irrigation pumps.
